Bride of the Water God Summary: Episode 2

In the Water Kingdom, the high priest taps a jar of water and a water cast of Yoon So-ah appears. The high priest says that she is fated to live a short life and that she will die even before Ha Baek returns and becomes the emperor.

Back in the human world, Ha Baek’s last resort does happen despite Nam Soo-ri’s protest. “I will bestow a divine blessing upon you, so awaken,” he says to So-ah before kissing her. To his surprise, she closes her eyes and before she could realize what she’s doing, Ha Baek stops it and awkwardly says, “You are now a servant of God.” Nam Soo-ri butts in and takes him away from her and she shouts after realizing what just happened, “You crazy bastard.” His last resort didn’t work after all.

At home, she cannot believe that she closed her eyes when he kissed her and gets annoyed by that to the point that she’s hearing Ha Baek’s voice and seeing him in the mirror. The next morning, she wakes up remembering the kissing incident and gets surprised finding out that it is already 10 am. Her alarm clock with nurse Yoo Sang-yoo’s voice reminds her that it’s actually Sunday and she’s being advised to go out and exercise.

In the park where Ha Baek is staying, he notices that there are too many people. He then joins a skateboarding contest being held nearby. He has never seen a skateboard before but with his extraordinary observation skills, Nam Soo-ri persuades him to join for the money (1st prize is 100,000 won) they could use as living allowance. After a while, So-ah happens to arrive at the venue and sees a Ha Baek-looking guy skateboarding like a pro.

She leaves right away upon realizing that the guy is really Ha Baek but he chases her thinking that she had already awakened. But So-ah still thinks of him as a crazy guy and runs as fast as she could to avoid him. She manages to escape and arrives in a place near the river where she blames Yoo Sang-yoo for telling her to exercise and remembers a horrible past event in her life — she’s drowning and asking for help.

The next day, So-ah arrives at her clinic and nurse Yoo tells him about Ma Bong-yeol (her patient who believes he’s having contact with aliens) being admitted to the hospital and needing a referral. He adds that Park Sang-chul called again, so she sighs and later suddenly hears a voice expressing a similarly disappointed sound. But no one is around her except a plant and her things.

Back at the park, Ha Baek decides to go to our “house” and hands his servant Soo-ah’s business card containing the address of her clinic. So they take a taxi and head off.

Nurse Yoo tells So-ah that Section Chief Bang came by. She asks for the reason why because she thought they will be paying their rent using the security deposit. He explains that the man wants 50 million won for the deposit, so So-ah goes outside to look for and talk to him. She missed Chief Bang but instead meets Ha Baek, who orders her in a godly manner to give them a shelter, food for Nam Soo-ri, and money that makes life easier. He adds that she must find the other gods for his coronation to take place. So-ah didn’t say a thing and talks to Nam Soo-ri instead. Thinking that he is Ha Baek’s guardian, she asks him if he’s getting treatment from the hospital and bluntly says that she is not in the position to help other people.

Ha Baek seems to give up on So-ah as he goes his own way when So-ah leaves them. Nam Soo-ri then informs him of the gold he buried in the pear field when he visited the human world 55 years ago. They go to the place to find it but arrives at an area full of high-rise buildings — the pear is nowhere to be found. As they walk along the streets thinking of what to do, a man named Joo Geol-rin appears and suddenly kisses Ha Baek. The man laughs at what happened and asks why he could not remember him. He tells Ha Baek that he has waited for this time to come and Ha Baek is in trouble now before running away. Ha Baek has no idea about the identity of the man, so Nam Soo-ri tells him that Joo Geol-rin ran away from the Water Kingdom because of him and Moo Ra.

In the basement of a building, CEO Hoo-ye gets out of his car and meets Shin Jaya (Bae Nuri), a woman who calls him an idiot. He ignores her and greets her grandfather Chairman Shin Dong-man (Jung Dong-hwan), who mentions that the CEO is his nephew. The Chairman invites Hoo-ye to his office and they talk about selling his land for Hoo-ye to build a new resort. A moment later, So-ah enters the room to negotiate about her rent but the Chairman shouts at her for not paying them. She is so embarrassed by the presence of Hoo-ye to say something.

While So-ah is waiting for the elevator, she hears again a voice, saying “You’re a god’s person now. If you don’t accept it you’ll suffer it all.” She thinks that she’s just hearing things again but she hears another: “Please give me some water. I’m thirsty.” She looks at her surrounding to see if someone is around but there is no one. The voice, which is coming from a plant, asks her for water again. She is still confused and could not understand what’s happening but she forgets it when CEO Hoo-ye arrives to take the elevator as well. He tells So-ah that it would easier for her to go back to the bank and beg but she remarks that he is being nosy. He is about to say that she doesn’t have to pay him back for the broken wiper, but she interrupts and misses the chance.

Ma Bong-yeol ran away. Upon hearing this, So-ah has no other choice but to look for him. Meanwhile, Ha Baek and Nam Soo-ri is inside a train. It seems he is getting hungry now given the way he looks at a kid who is eating. He complains about them not taking a taxi and Nam Soo-ri responds that they need to save their money. Later, he sees Moo Ra on a video being watched by a woman standing next to him, so he follows her outside and he gets separated with Nam Soo-ri again when the train leaves without him. He then stumbles across Ma Bong-yeol.

Nurse Yoo is talking to So-ah over the phone and informs her that Ma Bong-yeol made contact with an alien. He is also updating her of Bong-yeol’s location and adds that Bong-yeol finally met a god. So-ah replies that she is the one who wants to meet a god.

But that god is Ha Baek, who is now sitting in front of the food being offered to him by Ma Bong-yeol. He is obviously feeling hungry now but he refuses to eat. Ma Bong-yeol takes a selfie with Ha Baek and asks about TF1004, saying that he hasn’t met Obama yet and he is trying his best. He then gets surprised when Ha Baek asks, “Who on earth is Obama?”

So-ah arrives at the train station and tells nurse Yoo over the phone that she did not find Ma Bong-yeol. Nurse Yoo suddenly says that Ma Bong-yeol posted something on the Instagram and thinks that he is in the park along Han River, so he hangs up to send the picture to her. She calls him back and learns that Ma Bong-yeol tried to commit suicide in his last hospital and so his family is hesitating to send him to another when he is doing just fine in her clinic. She then instructs him to let the police find him.

Back at the park, Ma Bong-yeol explains to Ha Baek who Omaba is but he just says that he does not understand what Ma Bong-yeol is saying. He is sure of one thing though — that Obama cannot save the world. Ma Bong-yeol suddenly throws a tantrum upon hearing this and Ha Baek’s statement that TF1004 is fake. Ha Baek tells him that a single man cannot save the world and that he should just do better in his job instead of roaming around.

Ma Bong-yeol gets angrier. “How am I supposed to do a better job? No matter how hard I try, I can’t reach my father’s sky, so what should I do? I can’t reach the sky” So-ah has been eavesdropping their conversation for a few minutes now and finally steps in. She tells Ma Bong-yeol that she finally understands him now but he points out that he just looked down on him, to which Ha Baek agrees.

Ma Bong-yeol walks towards the river and plans to hurt himself, so So-ah makes a request to Ha Baek to stop him. However, Ha Baek replies to do it herself and is just staring at the drumstick on his right hand. So-ah is now trembling in fear of water.

14 years ago, So-ah was crying and calling her dad but no one answered. She then threw her phone and jumped from a bridge. She was able to survive from the incident but the traumatic experience leaves her trembling when she sees the river.

Back in the present, Ma Bong-yeol finally jumps into the river. Just as when she runs to save him, Ha Baek stops her and instructs her to just hold the fried chicken instead. When Ha Baek comes back from rescuing Ma Bong-yeol, she hugs Ma Bong-yeol and apologizes to him. Ha Baek gets angry at her upon knowing that she dropped his chicken to the ground. Without saying anything, So-ah hugs him, and says, “Thank you.”

Comments

I was wrong to expect in this episode the scenes in the preview shown at the end of episode 1. What happened in this episode is a total waste of the drama’s airing time and I wonder why the writer and director let something like this to happen. There is no significant development in the story it ought to tell and we just see Ha Baek roaming around the city and acting as a god, who will soon become the emperor of the godly realms. The rating of the second episode dropped and I won’t even be surprised when it drops further next week.

This episode introduces more side characters but did not show us the remaining two leading cast — Krystal Jung and Gong Myung. The pace of the story is just so slow, so it could have done us a favor if it at least gave us the goddess Moo Ra and god Bi-ryeom. If not just for the flashback of So-ah’s past and some scenes that reveal what kind of woman she is, episode two could have been a total failure in terms of the story development.

We get to learn in this episode that So-ah tried to commit suicide 14 years ago. She was wearing a high school uniform then, and she was calling her father who did not answer. We do not know yet what really happened at that time, but I guess her family was suffering already at that time because of his father’s tremendous pile of debt. But there could be something more than that, something bigger that would lead to her attempt in killing herself.

She got survived but considering how she was helplessly calling the name of his father to help her and that her body was already sinking down the bottom of the river, I am confused as to how she managed to escape death. Did someone help her? Or did she swam hard to keep herself from drowning? Either way, that experience still left a scar that makes her tremble the moment she’s nearby in a body of water.

So far we know that So-ah is a psychiatrist who is struggling to pay a lot of debts. She has a big house and lives on it alone. And she plans to go to Vanuatu after she pays off everything. This episode tells us more about her. Remember that scene in which she slows down her pace of walking to accompany the old man crossing the street? That particular scene shows that she has a tender heart despite her denial. She cares about other people in need, which is why he confronts Nam Soo-ri and asks if Ha Baek is getting any medical treatment. She can’t give in to Ha Baek’s request though as she thinks that he is just really a crazy bastard.

I didn’t expect that Ma Bong-yeol will return for episode 2 and he has more to offer other than his contact with TF1004 and plan of reaching out to Obama to save the world. He’d tried killing himself in his previous hospital, so when So-ah hears about this I know she could completely empathize with him. If not for Ha Baek, perhaps she could have really jumped into the water just to save him amid her own fears.

I have to say that although this episode is lacking in terms of a solid development in the story, I admire the stunning scenes and the effective comedy. Those kissing and chicken leg scenes are just hilarious, and Nam Joo-hyuk is actually good at playing a powerful god who is nothing but an innocent homeless man in the human world.

The writer of this drama wrote one of my favorite dramas of all time — Misaeng. Hence I am still hopeful that the next episodes will improve story-wise. Perhaps the writer needs a reminder that this is a fantasy romantic comedy, not a workplace drama dealing with the office workers’ daily lives, so a very slow movement in the screenplay is intolerable.

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Me? Just an ordinary lad with an extraordinary (says this something called 'stereotype') habit of watching Korean dramas. It started with action-filled City Hunter and the rest, as they say, is history.